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Review
. 2006 Jan;7(1):36-40.
doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.7400597.

Remodelling epithelial tubes through cell rearrangements: from cells to molecules

Affiliations
Review

Remodelling epithelial tubes through cell rearrangements: from cells to molecules

Marc Neumann et al. EMBO Rep. 2006 Jan.

Abstract

Epithelial cell movements, such as those that occur during cell intercalation, largely contribute to the formation of epithelial structures during the morphogenesis of multicellular organisms. As the architecture of epithelial tissues relies on strong adhesion between cells at adherens junctions (AJs), the intercalation or rearrangements of epithelial cells might be controlled by modulating the adhesion dynamics of the AJs by internal or external forces. In this review, we describe recent progress in understanding cell rearrangements during epithelial tube remodelling and discuss several models that might account for the developmental control of the spatial dynamics of AJs.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cellular architecture of epithelial tubes. (A) All tubes of the tracheal system originate from a flat epithelial sheet. By invagination, this flat epithelium is transformed into an epithelial sac from which epithelial tubes form through cell migration, cell intercalation and cell shape changes. (B) Initially, cells in larger tubes retain their intercellular adherens junctions (AJs) that connect them to their neighbours. In such cases, several cells make up the circumference of the lumen. (C) In certain branches, cells intercalate and eventually transform most of their intercellular AJs into autocellular AJs. In these cases, single cells make up the circumference of the lumen.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Steps of adherens junction remodelling during cell intercalation and tube elongation. At the onset of intercalation, cells are paired (pairing). On pairing, one cell reaches around the lumen with its apical surface leading to the formation of the first autocellular adherens junction (AJ) contact (reaching around the lumen). Starting from this initial autocellular contact, conversion of intercellular AJs into autocellular AJs proceeds through a process that resembles a zipping mechanism (zipping). The zipping process is stopped by proteins (Piopio (Pio) and Dumpy (Dp)) that are deposited in the tracheal lumen (termination). The entire intercalation process can be blocked by Spalt (Sal).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Speculative models for adherens junction remodelling. (AC) Stages of adherens junction (AJ) remodelling during germband extension (as proposed in Bertet et al, 2004; note that AC are drawn with anterior at the top). The AJs are coloured to correspond to the tracheal AJs. (D) Analogous to this model, ‘reaching around the lumen' might be mediated by the shrinking of a common AJ between neighbouring cells. (E) By contrast, the ‘zipping' process might rely on the exchange of cadherin interactions between different cells. (F) A similar mechanism could also account for ‘reaching around the lumen'.

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